I learned today that “Senator Kerry pressed SBA Administrator Hector Barreto on this very issue at a hearing of the Senate Small Business Committee in February 2002? and this transcript from the hearing that I obtained today, clearly shows that Barreto was well aware of what he was doing Continue reading →

This Administration has done nothing while every American pays skyrocketing gas prices, and farmers and truckers pay through the nose while oil companies profits’ soar. It’s time for the federal government to take charge and investigate why prices have increased so dramatically while oil companies enjoy windfall profits. Continue reading →

Price gouging at the pumps is in the news today as the Senate holds hearing on gas price gouging. Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today urged support for consumer protections to prevent opportunistic businesses from charging exceptionally high prices for gasoline during a time of crisis. Senator Feinstein is working with Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) on legislation that would give the President the authority to declare a national energy emergency so that the Federal Trade Commission could investigate and punish price gougers. Following is the statement of Senator Feinstein: “I have no doubt that gasoline price gouging occurred in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The fact that more than 10 percent of our nation’s refining capacity was … Continue reading →

It certainly appears to be reality. Katrina has knocked 9/11 and the War on Terror out of the arena, and left our President stripped bare. He is now the “Responsibility President”, an image worked up overnight to save the floundering (should I say drowning?) Republican Party. This isn’t quite in synch with the privatized infinitessimal bathtub variety of governance they were previously professing. Since in my humble assessment, you is what you is, and one thing Mr. Bush isn’t, is a leader of men. As this becomes clear to the American public, and a vacuum of leadership is created, what should the Democratic Party choose as its main thrust into this vacated spot? What should the Democrats simply promise to … Continue reading →

More than 100 people were killed in a string of bombings and ambushes in Iraq today in the worst large scale violence since May and June, and the Al Qaeda group in Iraq said that it was launching a nationwide campaign of suicide bombings in retaliation for an American-Iraqi military offensive against insurgents in the northern city of Tal Afar. Continue reading →

RJ Eskow of Night Light posed this question on his blog earlier today – Is the SBA the Next Scandal?. According to the Associated Press, Bush’s Small Business Administration not only mismanaged the disbursement of funds meant for small businesses harmed by September 11, but publicized one audit while concealing another in order to make their record appear better than it actually was. Republican Senator Olympia Snowe calls the situation “nothing short of an outrage.” And what did SBA head Hector Barreto do before he got this job? Why, he raised a lot of money for Republican campaigns. Obviously the SBA doesn’t play the same life-saving role FEMA does, but there are echoes of the FEMA scandal in the mismanagement … Continue reading →

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